By Trelle Burdeniuk

U of S student union does not support Montreal tuition protest actions

May 16, 2012 | 2:13 PM

Protestors went through hallways of a Montreal university disrupting classes, spray-painting messages on classrooms and calling students names. They say they want all students to go on strike, but some want to return to class.

“There's going to be people who are going to elect to go back to class. It's as simple as that. To go in and disrupt what they're trying to do, I definitely can't support that,” said Jared Brown, president of University of Saskatchewan Student Union.

The U of S is going through an average four-and-a-half per cent tuition increase. In Quebec, tuition is going up by as much as 75 per cent.

However, Brown says right now tuition in Quebec is about half of what it is in Saskatchewan.

He said to avoid a massive tuition increase like this and the blow-ups it causes, small, frequent jumps in tuition and an increased amount of scholarships could help.

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“I understand (the protestors) feelings, but I think a little bit of a consolation prize is if we can get scholarships and bursaries to continuously go up.”

Brown pointed out tuition is rising across the country and he doesn't expect it to decrease – students instead have to adjust.

“Students are working more, they're borrowing money more often. Tuition is increasing and parental contributions are continuously decreasing.”

“Hopefully the Quebec government can come to a peaceful solution on this and kind of get it out of the way so students can get back to what they're supposed to be doing,” said Brown.

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